Issue Position: Public Safety

Issue Position

Working as a Community to Address Public Safety Issues

Since being elected, Gustavo Rivera has been present at precinct council meetings and has been communicating with Commanding Officers in the Bronx regarding crime and crime prevention. Those conversations have led to policy ideas that Gustavo turned into legislation in Albany. After meeting with Commanding Officers and local law enforcement, Gustavo was told that police often get video of a crime from watching the news because they cannot track down the surveillance footage fast enough. Gustavo worked with community partners and Assembly Member Nelson Castro to draft a bill that would create a security camera registry for law enforcement that would provide a list of cameras pointing to public spaces, who the owner of the camera is and where it is located.

Gustavo has also engaged in conversations with community members about what can be done on a block by block basis by going on neighborhood walks, often with Bronx youth, who help point out where the high crime areas are and issues that make their neighborhood less safe. While Gustavo has encouraged community members to get more involved in their local police precinct councils, he also wanted to create a space for community members to feel comfortable expressing their opinions and talking about important public safety issues in their communities. That is why Gustavo hosted a series of four public safety workshops on issues of bullying, gang violence, stop and frisk and domestic violence.

Addressing Gun Violence

Unfortunately, gun violence continues to plague parts of the Bronx and the 33rd Senate District. That is why Gustavo Rivera has been fighting to bring funding for community policing programs to the Bronx that help address the cycle of gun violence. Gustavo is also a co-sponsor of microstamping legislation that would help solve crimes and put those who use guns in our communities in jail. The bill would mandate that all bullets are stamped with an ID number so they can be traced much in the same way that guns are traced back to their owners.

Stop and Frisk

Gustavo Rivera believes that the way that the policy of Stop and Frisk has been implemented in the city of New York is totally unconstitutional and should be stopped immediately. Stop and Frisk has led to the targeting of Black and Latino young men in the Bronx and throughout New York City. Gustavo believes that the rights of New York City residents has been violated and that Stop and Frisk has made residents of the 33rd Senate District afraid of law enforcement. If the program is making communities of color feel they are targets of Stop and Frisk, it makes the work of the police infinitely more difficult.

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